History Main / TheCavalryArrivesLate

* In the final arc of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', after the Vandenreich have pretty much decimated the Soul Society [[spoiler: and killed Yamamoto]]. Squad 0, said to be the strongest out of all the Gotei 13 combined finally arrive... and establish that they're not there to help, the failure of Soul Society's defense has simply put the Soul King, whose protection is Squad 0's job, at risk.

* The first boss fight in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' ends with Jade and Pey'j defeating an alien monster and ''then'' the Alpha Sections who are supposed to protect them from the aliens arrive. Pey'j proceeds to chew out the "defenders" but is promptly told to shut up. [[spoiler: It is later revealed that Alphas are part of a GovernmentConspiracy and they were ''supposed'' to arrive late, wherease Pey'j is a high-ranking member of LaResistance.]]

* Princess Luna from WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic is well known for her [[BrotherChuck vanishingly small amount of screen time]], and comments from the fans along the lines of "Wow, it would sure be nice if the ''second most powerful character in the show'' [[spoiler:would notice that the villian is about to take over the world]]" are canonised when she turns up at the end of "A Canterlot Wedding" and asks if she's missed anything.

-->--'''General Kirby''' and '''John Matrix''', ''Film/{{Commando}}''

* ''BigTroubleInLittleChina'': The police arrive after David Lo Pan and the three Storms are destroyed. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Jack Burton and Wang Chi deliberately did not notify them.

* ''DemolitionMan'': The San Angeles police arrive at the [=CryoPrison=] after John Spartan has killed Simon Phoenix.

* In the final arc of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', after the Vandenreich have pretty much decimated the Soul Society [[spoiler: and killed Yamamoto]]. Squad 0, said to be the strongest out of all the Gotei 13 combined finally arrive. Course they justify it that their job is to protect the Soul King.

* In the final arc of ''{{Bleach}}'', after the Vandenreich have pretty much decimated the Soul Society [[spoiler: and killed Yamamoto]]. Squad 0, said to be the strongest out of all the Gotei 13 combined finally arrive. Course they justify it that their job is to protect the Soul King.

* The Siege of Khartoum in 1885. By the time the relieving British Army arrived, the Siege just ended in favour of the Mahdist rebels, killing Chinese Gordon and much of the Egyptian garrison within. The British Army, realising their failure, withdrew.

Contrast BigDamnHeroes, JustInTime, and YouAreTooLate.

* In a 2-part ''DarkwingDuck'' comic that was published in ''DisneyAdventures'', Gizmoduck shows up with the police to help Darkwing nab Megavolt, only to see that he's already managed to capture the villain.

* ''BigTroubleInLittleChina'': The police arrive after David Lo Pan and the three Storms are destroyed. {{Justified}} in that Jack Burton and Wang Chi deliberately did not notify them.

* The police usually shows up at the end of each ''Film/FridayThe13th'' film to clean up the mess that Jason leaves behind.

Sometimes this is played for humor, or to play up their uselessness compared to TheHero. Often, though, it serves the same purpose as NoOntologicalInertia -- while the hero has to defeat the BigBad alone for the purposes of the story, TheCavalry is necessary to sweep up loose ends and ensure a happy ending, especially in real-world settings where the hero is on the side of law and order. Thus, they'll arrive just too late to interfere in the big fight, but just in time to handcuff the crooks... and to ensure that the hero isn't anticlimactically killed by a stray remaining mook or some other logical but narratively unimportant danger that wouldn't necessarily have gone away with the Big Bad's death. It also makes PostDramaticStressDisorder less hazardous for the hero, or allows the AfterActionPatchup to go on without worrying about clean-up.

* ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' had "The Bishop", in which the title character would always arrive ''just'' too late to prevent various members of the clergy from getting bumped off (by the Church Mafia?)

* Princess Luna from WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic is well known for her [[BrotherChuck vanishingly small amount of screen time]], and the constant comments from the fans of "Wow, it would sure be nice if the ''second most powerful character in the show'' would notice that the villian is about to take over the world" is lampshaded when she turns up at the END of "A Canterlot Wedding" and asks if she's missed anything.

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* In ''Firewall'', the police show up practically the second after HarrisonFord killed the last bad guy.

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* Entirely possible to do in ''FireEmblem'', but that's up to the player. In one case in ''FireEmblemTheSacredStones'', defeating the enemy before their help arrives (really easy to do) makes you miss a really good recruit-able character, making him a case of WhatHappenedToTheMouse afterwards.

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* Often happens in ''LuckyLuke'', as a subversion of the trope found in classic Westerns of the cavalry always arriving on time. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one adventure (I think it was "The Great Duke") in which the cavalry arrives late, and the commanding officer has a nervous breakdown because of the breach of tradition.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Friday's Child". After the Klingon is killed, Scotty and a Security team arrive to prevent any further hostilities.

* In ''ColasBreugnon'', the military aid sent by prince de Nevers to help a besieged town arrives only after both sides have made an agreement, ended the siege and proceeded to feast together; these latecomers are welcomed with laughter and politely asked to go away.

* Felix and the Marines show up just after [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] beats the villains in ''Film/GoldenEye''.

* In RobertEHoward's "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword", ConanTheBarbarian deals with both assassins and EldritchAbomination, and ''then'', his courtiers show up. One is, however, able to show it was not AllJustADream.

* ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': The police arrive right after the weasels die laughing and Judge Doom is liquidated.

* This trope is frequently used in the futuristic {{G Defend}}. Being that the main cast are government security agents, they're frequently told to not interfere in many investigations and to leave it to the civilian police. Alas, the agents end up cleaning up the messes most of the time before the police even arrives.

* In ''[[ImGonnaGitYouSucka I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]'', the police arrive after our {{Heroes}} have killed Mr. Big (and most of his {{Mook}}s).

* ''Film/{{Commando}}'': The United States Army arrives only after [[ArnoldSchwarzenegger Matrix]] has defeated every enemy soldier on the island, including the BigBad and his [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* ''[[CaptainAmerica Captain America]]'': Reinforcements arrive ''after'' [[TheHero Captain America]] has [[spoiler:killed [[BigBad Red Skull]] and his lieutenant.]]

* In ''ColasBreugnon'', the military aid sent by prince de Nevers to help a besieged town arrives only after both sides have made an agreement, ended the siege and proceeded to feast together; these latecomers are welcomed with laughter and politely asked to go away.

* ''Literature/{{Sunshine}}'': After [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Con]] and [[BadassAbnormal Rae]] take down [[BigBad Bo]], the police turn up just in time to arrest them for being at the scene of the conflict.

* 'The Goons' episode The Red Fort features an inversion. The hero, Major Bloodnok is about to be shot by firing squad as Neddy Seagoon rides forth with the Cavalry to rescue him. Point of view rapidly shifts back and forth between the galloping cavalry and the firing squad, up until the final moment when Bloodnok is shot, ending the episode.

* The Spartan relief force arrived at Marathon just in time to take a curious look at the [[ATopAMountainOfCorpses Athenian's work]].

* ''{{Predator}} 2'': After Harrigan kills the Predator and the other Predators let him go, the rest of Keyes' team arrives in their helicopter and the Los Angeles police arrive in squad cars.

* Felix and the Marines show up just after [[JamesBond Bond]] beats the villains in ''Film/GoldenEye''.

* During the first season (65 episodes) of ''InspectorGadget'', Chief Quimby and a bunch of other police would invariably be called by Penny after she and Brain broke the case, or Gadget at best bumbled into breaking it himself. They would then arrive to arrest the MAD Agents and the Villain of the Episode and Quimby would congratulate Gadget. Also happened in the second season, [[JumpTheSharkexcept the Villain]] [[VillainExitStageLeft would escape]].

* In ''{{Gremlins 2}}: The New Batch'', Clamp and his SWAT team enter the building just in time to see the gigantic mushy puddle that's left after all the gremlins get electrocuted.

* Subverted in the third ''LethalWeapon''; upon arriving a building with a car bomb in the garage, Riggs insists that he and Murtaugh have a look under the justification that "[[LampshadeHanging the bomb squad never gets here on time]]!" They go to the bomb, Riggs messes around with it, screws up the timer, and it goes off -- and seconds after it does, the bomb squad shows up, having arrived in plenty of time to deal with the bomb had Riggs and Murtaugh not interfered.